For all of Cowboys WR Dez Bryant's success vs. Baltimore, one failure stood out

BALTIMORE — As time moves along and, more specifically, another season begins to move beyond the grasp of the Dallas Cowboys, I think less and less that Jerry Jones is the face of this team and more and more that it belongs to Dez Bryant.

Make of that what you will.

The enigmatic receiver embodies the Jekyll and Hyde nature of this franchise. This was never truer than Sunday afternoon in the hostile environment the Baltimore Ravens call home. Across a parking lot from the home of the baseball team that finished the Rangers’ season, the Ravens hammered the first nail into the Cowboys’ coffin when Dallas suffered a 31-29 defeat.

It ended when Dan Bailey’s 51-yard field goal attempt drifted left in the swirling winds of M & T Bank Stadium. But before that, the Cowboys offense put on a show few thought this team capable of after failing to score as many as 20 points in any of their last three games.

The Cowboys ran the ball like no team ever has against Baltimore (227 yards) but beyond that, when they needed to make plays in the passing game on a desperate final drive, they did.

Almost all of them, anyway.

Bryant caught 13 passes, matching a Cowboys wide receiver record set 45 years ago by Lance Rentzel. He caught two touchdown passes, the last one trimming Baltimore’s lead to two points with 32 seconds to play.

But on the two-point conversion try that followed — essentially the same quick out route he had executed for the touchdown — the ball sailed through Bryant’s hands and fell to the turf.

Bryant thought cornerback Cary Williams interfered on the play.

“I thought it was PI, but I still could have made a play on the ball,” Bryant said. “Of course I feel bad about it. At the same time, we can’t hold our heads down. I don’t think we lost any composure today.”

Actually, it was Jones who said that Bryant tried to cradle the ball — as he initially did too often after arriving from Oklahoma State — rather than making the catch with his hands.

“But you look at all the other catches he made to keep things going for us,” Jones said.

There were plenty. Only tight end Jason Witten, who has had games of 15 and 14 receptions, caught more in a game.

That Bryant could make 13 catches and be remembered mostly for the one that got away is no more incredible than this team gaining 487 yards and keeping the ball for 40 minutes against the Ravens … and still finding a way not only to lose but to slide into last place in the NFC East.

Bryant actually made one more catch after the touchdown, a play that created controversy of its own. The Cowboys recovered an onside kick following the failed two-point conversion, and a pass interference call moved the ball to the Baltimore 34-yard line.

The Cowboys had 26 seconds left and one timeout remaining. And yet all they managed was a 1-yard completion to Bryant on a quick slant.

Tony Romo tried to gather the team to run one more play but as the clock wound down under 10 seconds, he was forced to give up and call the final timeout with six seconds left.

People will put this on head coach Jason Garrett but there was no sense in calling the timeout earlier, because that would have left the Cowboys to run one more play with no timeouts. Romo couldn’t get the players to the line quick enough to spike it, either.

This was just another sign of a team not ready to win.

Again.

“I don’t know how many times we threw to Dez today,” Romo said. “He had a lot of catches. He had a really good game.”

And yet somehow he didn’t quite manage 100 yards and couldn’t reel in the one that wouldn’t have counted in the statistics but would have tied the score and perhaps changed the course of the Cowboys’ season.

Bryant is becoming more reliable, yet he’s not where he should be in the middle of his third pro season. The Cowboys are becoming more watchable … and yet they’re looking up in the standings at not only the Eagles and Giants but the Redskins, too.

To post a comment, log into your chosen social network and then add your comment below. Your comments are subject to our Terms of Service and the privacy policy and terms of service of your social network. If you do not want to comment with a social network, please consider writing a letter to the editor.

About Tim Cowlishaw

Tim Cowlishaw has been The Dallas Morning News' lead sports columnist since July 1998. Prior to that he covered the Cowboys for six seasons and the Stars for three as a beat reporter. He also covered the Rangers as a backup beat writer and was the San Jose Mercury News' beat writer on the San Francisco Giants in the late 1980s.

Tim has been appearing regularly on ESPN"s "Around the Horn" since the show made its debut in November 2002. He also worked with ESPN as part of the network's "NASCAR Now" coverage in 2007-08.

Favorite Dallas restaurants: Park, Nick and Sam's, Kenichi.

Worst sports prediction: His first in college ... that Earl Campbell had no shot at the Heisman Trophy.

Best sports memories: Seeing the Dallas Stars hoist the Stanley Cup long after midnight in Buffalo, watching the Dallas Cowboys win the Super Bowl and Texas win the national title in perfect Rose Bowl settings.